IX USES OF THE SEAL

When the Continental Congress made the obverse of the great seal the national arms it intended that the device should pass into common use among the people, as the flag has done, and like the flag the arms at first met with general approval, which soon gave place to an acceptance of it as an emblem of the power and sovereignty of the United States, which placed it above criticism.

Not all of the fathers of the Republic, however, were pleased with the selection of the eagle as the national emblem. When the badge of the Order of the Society of the Cincinnati was made in France in 1784 it was objected to by some because the displayed eagle resembled a turkey.

For my part [wrote Benjamin Franklin January 26, 1784, to his daughter], I wish the bald eagle had not been chosen as the representative of our country; he is a bird of bad moral character; he does not get his living honestly; you may have seen him perched on some dead tree, where, too lazy to fish for himself, he watches the labor of the fishing-hawk; and, when that diligent bird has at length taken a fish, and is bearing it to his nest for the support of his mate and young ones, the bald eagle pursues him, and takes it from him. With all this 66injustice he is never in good case; but, like those among men who live by sharping and robbing, he is generally poor, and often very lousy. Besides, he is a rank coward; the little kingbird, not bigger than a sparrow, attacks him boldly and drives him out of the district. He is therefore by no means a proper emblem for the brave and honest Cincinnati of America, who have driven all the kingbirds from our country; though exactly fit for that order of knights, which the French call Chevaliers d’Industrie.

I am, on this account, not displeased that the figure is not known as a bald eagle, but looks more like a turkey. For in truth, the turkey is in comparison a much more respectable bird, and withal a true original native of America. Eagles have been found in all countries, but the turkey was peculiar to ours; the first of the species seen in Europe, being brought to France by the Jesuits from Canada, and served up at the wedding table of Charles the Ninth. He is, besides, (though a little vain and silly, it is true, but not the worse emblem for that,) a bird of courage, and would not hesitate to attack a grenadier of the British guards, who should presume to invade his farmyard with a red coat on.^[32]

The seal itself has, of course, a very limited use, which is strictly guarded by law. The Secretary of State is its custodian, but even he has no authority to affix it to any paper that does not bear the President’s signature.

In 1803 Chief Justice Marshall, in delivering an opinion of the Supreme Court, used the following 67language relative to the seal. It may be considered applicable to all instruments to which the seal is affixed.

The signature [of the President] is a warrant for affixing the great seal to the commission, and the great seal is only to be affixed to an instrument which is complete. It attests, by an act supposed to be of public notoriety, the verity of the presidential signature.

It is never to be affixed till the commission is signed, because the signature which gives force and effect to the commission, is conclusive evidence that the appointment is made.

The commission being signed, the subsequent duty of the Secretary of State is prescribed by law, and not to be guided by the will of the President. He is to affix the seal of the United States to the Commission, and is to record it. (1 U. S. Reports, 374.)

As the duties of the Government have expanded, the impracticability of having the seal of the United States attached by the Department of State to the commissions of officers who are under some other Department has been recognized by Congress. By the act of March 18, 1874,^[33] the commissions of postmasters were directed to be made out under the seal of the Post-Office Department; the act of March 3, 1875,^[34] placed the commissions of officers of the Interior Department under that Department; by act of August 8, 1888,^[35] all judicial 68officers, marshals, and United States attorneys were ordered to be appointed under the seal of the Department of Justice; and by an Executive order of June 16, 1893, President Cleveland directed that all warrants of pardon and commutations of sentence granted to offenders convicted in the courts of the United States should thereafter be made out under the seal of the Department of Justice.

At the present time the seal of the United States is affixed to the commissions of all Cabinet officers and diplomatic and consular officers who are nominated by the President and confirmed by the Senate; all ceremonious communications from the President to the heads of foreign governments; all treaties, conventions, and formal agreements of the President with foreign powers; all proclamations by the President; all exequaturs to foreign consular officers in the United States who are appointed by the heads of the governments which they represent; to warrants by the President to receive persons surrendered by foreign governments under extradition treaties; and to all miscellaneous commissions of civil officers appointed by the President, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, whose appointments are not now especially directed by law to be signed under a different seal.

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